Redemption
by Rain611
Summary: 6 strangers wake up in the mysterious Cube structure. Follow their story as they attempt to escape with their lives. Rated M for harsh language and violence throughout.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, readers. This is my first attempt at a Cube fanfic. I'm a huge fan of the movies, and have always wanted to write a fanfiction. It may take me a little while to update, so please be patient with me. Thanks for reading, and enjoy!**

**P.S. I don't own Cube or anything having to do with it. The characters are mine, however.**

**Chapter 1**

When I first woke up, I don't think I would've remembered anything, had my name not been stitched onto my jumpsuit. At least I think it was my name. I really had no way of telling at that point, for I had obviously not regained any of my memory at that time. The jumpsuit itself was uncomfortable, faded, and a little baggy. They were an ugly blue gray color…or at least I think they were at one point. I also realized when I woke up, that I was wearing boots. Not mine; although they fit well. They were also well polished; and glossy black.

As I slowly opened my eyes the first thing I saw was a dull blue glare. My first instinct was to rub my eyes, and as I did so, I continued to recover my senses and investigate my surroundings. As I brought my self up to a laying stance supported on one elbow, I looked around. I found that I was in a cube room. All of the sides, the ceiling, even the floor were identical, and they all glowed an eerie blue. In the center of each side of the cube was a door. Branching and running parallel to either side of each door was what appeared to be a ladder. The rungs were only wide enough to support one foot, but it was the only way to reach the door without having to pull oneself up to it.

I slowly brought myself to a standing position, still looking around at the room that I'd woken up in. I decided to myself with ease to walk up to the door just ahead of me. When I reached it, I stood and examined it. It was a steel handle that turned clockwise. As I turned the handle I could hear what sounded like gears within the walls, and to my surprise once I turned the handle a total of four times, the door popped outward and slid downward on a metal track. I slowly looked into the passage way that I had just exposed. Beyond the passageway I saw another room that seemed identical to the one that I now occupied, with one exception. It glowed green. The passage way was about two feet long with 2 sets of lights on three sides. The floor was the only side without them.

I took one more look around the room that I was in and it suddenly began to adopt a claustrophobic nature. I felt a cold chill run down my back and climbed into the two foot passage way. As I neared the other side, someone grabbed the neck of my jumpsuit and harshly pulled my through. I hit my head hard, and woke up a few minutes later. My head hurt and as I reached back and rubbed it, I felt fresh blood. When I looked up I saw the one who pulled me through.

I looked up at his left shoulder area where, when my vision cleared after my fall, I saw that his name was Owens. He was kneeling and he had one hand on my shoulder, the other behind his back. His boots were hanging on his neck tied together by the shoelaces. After I saw his name, I turned my gaze to his face and glared at him for what he had recently done to me.

"Are you okay?" He asked me.

"I'm fine," I said, acting a bit more irritated than I truly was. "I just bumped my head."

"Sorry…I just thought I was the only one in here..." He replied to me, and began rubbing his hands together in a nervous way. As he did so, I notice a large cut on his right hand; the one that was behind his back.

"What happened to your hand?" I ask curiously.

"You mean you haven't seen the traps yet?" He asked me. He seemed a bit surprised.

"What do you mean, traps?" I asked in return.

"Random rooms in this place are rigged with traps. I've been in three rooms, and I've already seen five others with traps in them. I just narrowly got away from the one that did this." He said, showing me his hand. I got up, walked to the corner, and sat down. Owens followed, and we continued our discussion.

"And you haven't seen anyone else?" I asked, ensuring that I'd heard him correctly.

"Nope; not a soul. Until you." He answered.

"What's with the boots?" I asked, pointing to the pair that now hung on his shoulder.

"It's a little trick I figured out." He began. "All of the traps I've encountered so far are motion sensitive, so now, before I enter a room," he said, and pointed to his boots, "I take one of these guys, hold the end of the shoelace, and toss the boot into the room. If nothing happens, then I take my chances and venture into the room."

"Well, there's no telling how big this place is…we'd better keep moving." I said, now secretly worried about the hidden traps in this place. I began to wonder if I was going to make it out alive.

I walked forward to the door opposite the one that I was so rudely pulled through, stopped and pointed at the opening mechanism.

"Have you been through here yet?" I asked.

"No. Here take one of my boots, test it out." He replied.

I looked away from him as he held out the boot and opened the door.

"No need," I said, and backed away from the door to show Owens what I'd seen. It was a girl, no older than twenty two. She was in the door just across from the one I'd just opened. She, like us, was in a faded blue grey jumpsuit. She was looking into the passage way at the base. When she turned around at the sound of the door opening, she had a puzzled look on her face. She slowly brushed her light brown bangs out of her face and began to smile.

"Oh thank God!" She said, as she approached me and progressed to climb through the passageway of the door that I had just opened. I moved aside as she neared my end and cautiously lowered herself to the floor. As was a habit now, I looked at her shoulder. 'Adams' was stitched neatly there in black thread. She looked and Owens and then back at me, still smiling.

"I thought I was the only one here!" She exclaimed, sounding relieved to see us.

"Hi," Owens said, seemingly out of nowhere. "I'm Owens; Jay Owens." He said, holding out a hand to shake.

"Hello Jay, I'm Kristen Adams." She said, still smiling, and shook his hand happily. I stood off to the side, observing the two with their introduction that I felt was entirely unnecessary. I had no clue who this girl was, and the chances of me having anything to do her after I got out of this place were slim; or so I thought at the time. She soon proved to be a very important part of our escape from this place.

"What were you looking at, in the passageway over there?" I asked, pointing toward the door.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name...'Johnns' is it?" She asked, eyeing my shoulder.

"Yeah. Chris Johnns. Nice to meet you." I said sarcastically. "Now," I continued, "what were you doing in that passageway?"

"Quit chewing my head off, will ya?" She asked, sounding annoyed. "If you must know, I was looking at the metal engravings on the floor of the passageway."

"What metal engravings?" I asked her.

"C'mere; I'll show you." She said, and walked toward the door that she had just come through. I curiously followed her. Owens followed close behind. When we reached the doorway, she crawled halfway into the passageway, telling me to crawl in with her. There was just enough room for us to be shoulder to shoulder in there; but that wasn't the most uncomfortable part...the lights on the ceiling and both sides of the passageway transformed the little space into an oven of sorts, and I couldn't wait to get out of there.

When we got inside, I saw what she was talking about. I couldn't believe that I had missed them! On the base of the passageway were two by one inch slabs of steel that were bolted down. Into the steel were engraved 3 letters-t, f, and s; just large enough to be seen by someone who was looking for them.

"How did you come across these?" I asked, shocked.

"Well, I was crawling through a passageway, and I caught my sleeve on one of the screws that came loose on one of the slabs." Adams explained. "I was trying to decipher them when I heard you open the door."

I looked at the symbols and then at Adams, trying myself to decipher the coded letters.

"Did you get anywhere?" I asked, not expecting a positive answer.

Adams sighed and looked at the symbols. She looked upset.

"I don't think I figured out anything important," she said, "but I don't think they're random." She looked at me after she spoke. Our momentary glance at each other was broken when Owens began to talk.

"What is it?" He asked, curiously.

I slowly withdrew myself from the passageway, if for nothing else then to get out of the heat. I waved my hand toward the passageway as I walked past Owens to take a seat in the corner and think about the symbols I had just seen. He casually walked over to the passageway, and crawled halfway inside to inspect the symbols.

While I concentrated, I could hear Owens and Adams questioning each other in the passageway about both the symbols and their lives before the cube. I sat alone in my corner, chewing away at my right thumb nail, as I always did when I was concentrating. My concentration was broken all of a sudden when I heard the doorway in the ceiling open.

I slowly rose to my feet as I watched the doorway in the ceiling open. At first, all I saw was the top doorway of the cube just above me. It was colored differently than the cubes that I'd been in so far; it was a deep red. Seconds later I saw the face of a young man look through the doorway. He had messy dark brown hair and green eyes. He couldn't have been older than eighteen.

"Hey, up there!" I said, "Why don't you come down here and join us?"

"I'm coming down." The boy said.

His journey across and down the fourteen foot walls of the cube was a cautious one; God knew if he fell he'd either break bones or die when he landed. He monkey barred himself to the cube side furthest from me and then climbed down. By now, Owens and Adams were at his side introducing themselves, as was their way of doing things.

"Hi," said Owens; first as usual. "My name in Jay, and this," he said, pointing to Adams, "is Kristen. It's nice to meet you." He finally concluded. Both he and Kristen offered their hands and took turns shaking his.

"My name is Sam." The boy started. "I've been searching this place for hours, hoping that I wasn't the only one here."

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard this speech before; three times." I said to him. By now the statement was getting old. "What made you decide to look down…Edwards?" I asked, after seeing the black stitching on his shoulder.

"What do you mean?" He asked, looking at me with a confused look on his face.

"I mean," I began, feeling annoyed at this boy's ignorance. "Why did you choose to open the door on the floor of the cube you were in, instead of just traveling forward?"

"Well, all of the doors were trapped other than the one that I'd previously come through, so I figured 'Why not try the floor?'" He finished his statement very matter-of-factly, annoying me more.

"Alright, guys" I started, "Let's take a short break and get to know each other."

I found my way back to the corner of the room and sat with my knees to my chest. Adams sat to my left, about two feet away, as if trying not to get too close. Owens sat to my right, a little closer; approximately a foot away, and the newfound Edwards sat to Owens' right. We spent the next half an hour or so talking about what we could remember.

"Before I woke up here, I remember taking my kids to school…" I trailed a bit, trying my hardest to remember details. "When I got back, I walked into the house to check the answering machine…and that's the last thing I remember. What about you, Owens?"

"Me, I was studying; I'm in college trying to major in foreign languages…I'm keeping a C in there; not too shabby," he said with a grin on his face. "Other than that, I don't remember anything before waking up here."

I looked at Adams. "How 'bout you?"

"I was making dinner…you know, one of those frozen dinners big enough for one? I'd just taken it over to the microwave. I wanted something easy…" She said as she looked at the floor, and then was silent.

"How about you Edwards?" I asked, now switching my glance in his direction.

"I was driving over to a friend's house; he was uh, throwing a big party," he said, all the while fumbling with his messy hair. "Next thing I know I wake up in this damned place." He said.

By the time I looked back at Adams, she was asleep. Her knees, like mine, were pulled up to her chest. She had her arms crossed as they rested on her knees and her forehead rested on her arms. She snored almost inaudibly. I looked over at Owens and Edwards.

"Maybe it's best that we get some rest, after all, there's no telling how long we'll be in here; we should be well rested so we can cover some ground tomorrow." I said, not exactly talking to either one of them in particular. Owens moved to the wall that was adjacent to my corner, and lay on his back, trying to get comfortable. Edwards stayed at the wall to my right and lay on his side with his legs pulled up in a right angle.

I looked at Adams once again and then I looked from Edwards to Owens. 'Maybe this isn't such a bad thing' I thought. 'This could be just what I need to redeem myself in my own eyes' I told myself, and then I sunk more lazily in the corner and as I fell asleep, I continued to think about the symbols that were engraved in the metal that Adams had found in the passageway.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry this chapter is shorter than the first, guys. But I figured you would rather have a short chapter than nothing at all, eh? Let me know what you think. I'm currently writing chapter 3 for you.**

**Chapter 2**

Sometime during what could've been the night (although truthfully the concept of time quickly faded in this place), I had shifted to a lying position on my side, still in my corner. Not wanting to expose my wake, I lay silently with my eyes closed and listened to the soft whispers that had woken me in the first place.

"So I walked into the room and the next thing I know, the door automatically closes behind me." It was Owens. Judging from previous known positions in the room, he was probably talking to Edwards.

"What didn't you check it first with the boot thing?" Edwards laughed at Owens' ignorance.

"I hadn't thought of it at the time I guess. But anyway...I walk into this red room, right? And the door closes behind me. I hear gears-"

"Gears like the ones that move periodically?"

I could almost feel my ears perk up as I heard Edwards' question. I hadn't noticed any movement with gears...I would have to inspect this new found clue later.

"No, not like those. It was a smaller, less harsh noise. I'm not sure how to describe it. Imagine turning on your digital camera and hearing that little noise it makes when the lens opens and extends." Owens replied.

"Oh, got'cha."

"So I hear the gears I know something is wrong...I just didn't want to stay and find out what. So I run across the room to the door across from me, and just as I was climbing the ladder I heard what sounded like blades cutting through the air." Owens voice started to tremble.

"Holy shit, dude!" I could almost imagine Edwards sitting next to him with his jaw on the floor.

"I finally got the door open and was climbing though. I guess I didn't realize that my hand was just outside the door frame when I was trying to keep my balance. Anyway, that's how my hand got cut. It took a while for the bleeding to stop..." Owens trailed.

Feeling like I'd probably heard enough I started to show some signs of waking as I slowly stretched my arms and yawned lazily. I rubbed my eyes and look to my right to see Owens and Edwards sitting there looking at me silently. I sat up slowly and looked to my left. Adams was still asleep.

"'Morning, Johnns. Owens here was just telling me about how he was almost chopped up."

Owens glared at Edwards, but although he was trying to look strong his embarrassment began to leak into view. I was silent as I tried to decide whether or not I should say something. Owens lowered his head and shook it in what could've been shame or hurt and then finally spoke.

"You don't have to make such a scene, it wasn't a big deal." Edwards looked at his injured hand and I took advantage of the opportunity to see it myself once again. It wasn't in great shape. Infection seemed to spread quickly in this place. Owens look closely at the thin scab that formed over his cut to ensure that everything was at least healing right. Despite the redness, I think he was satisfied.

"Whatever, man." Edwards stood up and stretched. "So what are we waiting for? Let's get out of here." He began unconsciously playing with his hair in order to look presentable I could only assume. But I couldn't care less about his hair right now.

"Adams is-"

"Dead tired with a massive headache." I turned to Adams in surprise as she finished my statement. She sat up and started massaging her shoulders to try to get the stiffness out.

I stood up now and Edwards followed suit soon after. I walked over to Adams and offered her my hand to help her up. She smiled softly as a silent thanks and took my hand, her head paining her as she rose. Adams, Owens and Edwards now stood before me silently. It seemed as though I was just elected the leader in this place. It was a role I was happy to take at the moment.

"Okay, guys. I think the best thing for us to do now is to keep moving. This place can't be infinite in size; it has to end sometime."

Edwards scratched his head and looked down at the floor. Adams stood with her arms crossed. Owens was the only one to say anything.

"Sure. Let's go." He turned around and put his hands on his hips as if to think. He quickly withdrew his hand though, as it's placement aggravated the wound there.

"Edwards..." I took a step forward and reached toward him wanting to offer my sympathy.

"I'm fine." I stopped and looked at him, genuinely surprised. It was the first time I'd seen him show any kind of anger. "Look. I'm sorry," Edwards continued. "It's just...I never thought my life would end this way."

"What are you talking about? Nobody's life is over yet. Have some confidence, Owens." I couldn't help but feel a little insulted. This wasn't over, and I at least was not going out without a fight. If I could help it, neither would any of them.

"Have some confidence? Why should I be optimistic in a situation like this? I know as well as everyone else in here that we probably won't make it out of here." Adams, probably tired of listening to this, returned to the wall and sat down, and began massaging her temples.

"C'mon, Owens." I placed my hand on his shoulder to try to comfort him. "It'll be okay. Everyone is going to get out of here. I promise."

"You promise." Owens slowly lowered himself to the floor as he continued to break. I dropped to his level and continued to try to comfort him as Edwards impatiently paced the room, annoyed. "How could you possibly make a promise like that. You haven't even seen the traps yet. We still don't know what the letters mean, or the gear shifts."

"Owens. Calm down for a second, okay? No, I haven't seen the traps, but you said yourself that you have a way to beat them." I paused that poked Owens' boot. "And no, we don't know what the letters mean, but if we put our heads together we'll figure it out." I smiled. "Besides. Have I given you a reason not to trust me?"

Owens was silent momentarily and then finally answered. "No, I guess not."

"That's right." I rose to stand once again. "If anything I need to keep my eye on you and make sure you don't throw me to the floor again." I laughed stupidly and Owens rose to his feet.

"I guess so."

"Okay then, let's be on our way." Edwards chimed in. He began to walk and stopped at the door to my left, began to climb the rungs and stopped, looking my way. "C'mon, guys. What's with the wait?"

Adams slowly rose once again and joined Owens and I.

"Are you okay?" I tried to get Adams to look at me, but she wouldn't. She was still rubbing her temples, obviously still hurting.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go."

"Are you sure?" I don't know why I was worried, but I was.

"I said I was fine."

"Okay...Owens, let me see one of those boots."

Owens gingerly handled his boots, being careful not to move his hand the wrong way again. He held on to the laces as he thought about untying the knot that held them together and then handed the boots to me. He didn't need to tell me why he did so. I took the boots and began untying the laces as I continued to walk to the doorway at which Edwards was waiting, and crawled up the small ladder. I finally got the laces unknotted and threw one of the boots inside the white room that lay before me. Nothing happened.

"Alright, guys. This room is safe." I crawled through the doorway and waited patiently for the others to follow. Edwards came through first and now began looking around this new room as if it was any different than the others we'd all seen before. I could here Owens helping Adams through the doorway, and he came through last. "Okay. Let's continue." I took a step forward and froze as the door to my right began to open.

"Damn," Edwards uttered. "How many people are in this place?"

As the door opened I could hear the sounds of someone in distress. She was crying and she desperately wanted in this room. I ran over to the door to meet her there. A young blond girl quickly emerged into our room shaking violently, tears continued to run down her cheeks. I quickly looked to her shoulder.

"Michaels." I grabbed her shoulders but she didn't respond to me, she just kept crying. "Michaels!"

Michaels still didn't answer. She clumsily went dead weight in my arms and I strained to keep her balanced until I sat her on the floor. By now everyone else was gathered around Michaels and I and they tried to figure out was was going on. It suddenly got very loud.

"Oh, my god, are you okay?" Owens no longer seemed so depressed, rather worried.

"What the fuck happened?" Edwards seemed on the verge of hysteria.

"Guys! Guys, stop. Just be quiet. You're not helping things any." I had enough to worry about with this girl without having to calm the others once again. I turned to Michaels once again. "Michaels. Can you hear me?"

I took a place sitting beside her and put my arm around her. I'm unsure if she realized it or not, but she turned to me and continued crying as she held on to me. "It's okay. You're alright."

Adams sat down again, taking this chance to relax a little. Edwards sat next to Michaels and lay his head against the wall. He sighed heavily. Edwards sat against the wall opposite Edwards and I looking frustrated.

"Okay, listen. I think we should stay here until we can get Michaels talking." I wasn't really talking to anyone in particular, but that was fine. I was almost positive that Edwards would protest, but he didn't. I stayed awake with Michaels trying to comfort her as the others dozed, already exhausted by fights, breakdowns, injuries, lack of food and water...who knew. Once again my plans were put on hold as I was left comforting another broken soul.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It only took about 20 minutes for the others to fall asleep as I cradled Michaels in my lap. I found myself once again in the corner of the room with the others surrounding me.

Treasuring the silence around me, I lay my head against the wall briefly and drew a deep breath and released it slowly. Quiet was good, but I was well aware that it would not stay this way. As soon as Michaels woke from her tear induced sleep, there would be some explaining to do. And as much as I didn't want to put this girl through anything, I couldn't speak for Edwards.

I looked at Michaels in my lap as she moaned in her sleep. Her face still glistened with teary trails left on either side of her face. She was trembling.

In an unconscious attempt to comfort her, I brushed her hair from her face as she slept. As she progressed through her nightmare, I began to wonder whether or not I should wake her.

"Son of a bitch!" I exclaimed in a loud whisper as I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder, harshly breaking my trance on the girl in my lap. Adams stood beside me with her hands fisted and her arms crossed, a look of fright on her face. Immediately I felt guilty about what I did, but god knew I couldn't take it bad.

"Look, Adams-"

"Just-don't worry about it." She took a seat where she'd stood and got quiet.

Frustration began to boil inside of me, but I retained it. None of these people were handling this situation very well and they desperately needed a leader. There was no way I was going to let them down and show them that I was just as hopeless and clueless as they were, even though they ultimately had to know on some level.

"Michaels," I whispered as I stroked the side of her head. Her hair was matted and tangled. She shifted slightly but didn't wake. I looked at Adams after doing so and she simply shrugged her shoulders. "Michaels."

Even speaking at a normal volume didn't seem to stir her. Abruptly, I rose my voice and said her name one last time. "Michaels!"

Michaels woke with a gasp and looked around in a daze, first at me and then to the others in the room. I decided that it was better to let her wake up a little before explaining anything. She quickly removed herself from my lap, looking as though she felt she'd done something wrong. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't confused.

I rose slowly from my seated position and watched Michaels as the looked around the cube. She was beginning to panic again.

"Michaels, wait." I took a step toward her in an attempt to calm her down, but she stepped away from me and hurried to the opposite corner of the room. Thoughts swirled through my mind. Should I help her? Should I wait? Or should I leave her be entirely? I looked over my shoulder and saw Adams lifting herself with some strain to a standing position. If I had to guess, I'd say she still had her headache and it was more than likely getting worse.

"Adams, c'mere." I was a little worried that the girl wouldn't want to come anywhere near me after my outburst, but I had to do something.

"What?" Adams asked. She was starting to sound bad; sick.

"What do you think we should do?" I stifled my worries about her health; it wasn't my place.

"Don't look at me, Queen Goddess. You're the big dog here, right?"

"Now, wait just a minute. I understand that you're irritated about earlier, but it was nothing personal."

"Sure it wasn't."

I turned from Adams and clenched my fists unconsciously. I'd realized that this conversation was leading nowhere, and so I had to return to the bigger problem at hand here.

"Michaels," I said as I approached the girl. "I'm not going to hurt you."

I could see as I got closer to her that she was shaking, badly. I took at seat beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder to show her that she had my support, but in her state I'm not sure if she understood much of anything that was going on. But then again, why should she. Nobody else in the room had any kind of understanding of what was going on…but then it occurred to me that we didn't really know who knew what in this place. I shoved the thought to the back of my mind as I continued to console the girl with conversation.

"My name is Chris. What about you?"

Michaels gazed through misty eyes and, after a few shaky breaths, answered. "Brit. You can call me Brit."

Happy that I'd at least gotten her to speak, I started to gently prod to get some information from her.

"What's the last thing you remember Brit? Before waking up here."

Brit shifted her position so that we were sitting across from each other, roughly a foot apart.

"I was with Daniel." She pushed her bangs behind her ears as she continued to regain her composure.

"Who's Daniel?"

"My boyfriend. It was our one year anniversary." She managed to chuckle as her tears dissipated.

"Oh." I couldn't care less for her boyfriend, but I figured it was a good way to get her opened up before answering the hard questions. "What does he do?"

"Ugh…" Michaels placed a palm against her forehead and closed her eyes. "I don't remember."

"That's okay. Don't worry about it. None of us have too much of a memory right now." I smiled at her and she laughed, probably because she felt like she should rather than be silent.

"Michaels…what happened…earlier?" I found myself nearly saying 'yesterday', and perhaps it would've been true. I had no idea.

"Earlier…" She regained her look of confusion. I was beginning to wonder about her. "I…I don't remember."

"You don't remember?" Frustration began to boil inside me again.

"No." Michaels began to get defensive. "I said I don't remember."

"Okay. Fine." I stood up and began to slowly pace across the room, just in time for the others to wake up.

"Ooohhh…" Owens woke with a groan and favored his injured hand.

Edwards sat up and ran his fingers through his hair before looking at me. "What's with the sleeper?" He asked, pointing a thumb toward Michaels. I could already tell this wasn't going to end well. This time I stood to the side as I watched the trouble start, by now tired of stopping petty arguments for people I didn't even know.

"I'm sorry?" Brit asked. She seemed quick to irritate. I chuckled silently to myself as I wondered if Edwards had ever come face to face with himself.

"I said, what's with you?" He spoke slowly, intentionally, and it only began to exacerbate the situation.

"Hey, guys, come on." Owens, of course, was the one to try to break in provided my absence in the situation.

Adams sat to my right with her knees up, hiding her head. I didn't blame her.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Brit barked back.

"It means we were doing just fine before YOU got here." Edwards responded.

As they continued to quarrel, I crossed my arms and leaned my weight against the wall, bringing one foot to rest behind me. It was beginning to look like I could learn much more from these people if I stood off to the side during turbulent times.

"You prick." Brit growled, and she rose to her feet.

"Guys, stop." Owens stepped between the two, holding his arms out toward Edwards to keep him from approaching the girl. He looked at me with a contorted look on his face. "Aren't you going to do something?"

"Get the fuck out of the way." Edwards shoved Owens from his place and got in Brit's face as they continued to argue.

"Like what Owens?"

"Just…stop this!"

I hung my head and laughed again. God forbid I fell victim to one of these traps, lest the rest of our little house party would descend quickly to hell. I decided to listen to Owens, though I'd loved the exposure that this fight was providing.

"You asshole. You have no idea what I've been through." Brit screamed.

"You? Bitch, we've all gone through hell in this place."

"Edwards." This time it was I that constrained him. "Stop."

I looked behind me at Brit. "You, sit down, cool off."

"You gonna make me?"

"Holy shit, Michaels. Seriously?" I turned my attention from Edwards to Michaels. "Are you that childish?"

Michaels opened her mouth to say something but stopped.

"That's what I thought." I turned my attention back to Edwards. "How ya doin', Edwards?"

"Fuck you." His words slid off of me as he walked to the opposite end of the room.

I took a moment to observe the new surroundings. Adams still sat in agony against the wall. Edwards sat against the wall to her left, stewing. Owens began to make his way to Edwards, and Michaels sat in the far corner of the room. I stood in the center, watching them and going through what had just happened.

"Can I expect to break up a fight every hour or so?" I asked, my patience quickly disappearing. But of course nobody answered. "That's fine, don't answer me. But as long as every one of you is looking to ME for answers or a referee, then you should probably start thinking before you boil over. If one of you has hard feelings with someone else, listen up." I stopped talking momentarily as a headache began to flair. "Take care of that shit right now, civilly. If you can't do that, then I'm tired of helping you. I'll be damned if your dumbass fights are going to mean the death of me."

"So, what. We answer to you now?" Edwards retorted.

I laughed. "Of course not. By all means, do what you want to do. Go where you want to go. Hell, go off on your own and kill yourself, I don't care." _Uuuughh_, I thought to myself as soon as the words left my mouth. _Here we go_.

Adams lifted her head and looked at me, hurt.

_Fuck._

I looked around, waiting for the next person to speak. Owens rose to his feet but said nothing. He was followed by Edwards, who soon decided that he had a bone to pick.

"Who the HELL do you think you are?" I could see him doing the same thing to me that he'd just done to Michaels. His intimidation tactics weren't working.

"Who do you think I am?" My question must've caught Edwards off guard, because he froze. Speechless. "My point exactly."

"Okay, tough shit." Edwards started. "Just who the hell are you then?"

"Wouldn't you love to know?" I began to toy with Edwards. If I'd expected any kind of respect from him, I figured now would be a good time to show that I wasn't afraid of him at least.

Adams rose and walked to the center of the room. "Who are you?"

_Great. _I could feel the others beginning to lose their faith in me. I would try to keep them on my side, but I always knew I was better off without them.

"I…am Christina Johnns." I answered, and started my tale. "And I helped…"

Edwards eyes grew wide and he grabbed my shoulders. "You helped what?"

"I helped take you."

"You fucking cunt!" Before I had time to turn around, Michaels grabbed the back of my jumpsuit collar and pulled it tight. Almost immediately it became nearly impossible to breathe.

"Wait, Michaels." Owens voice came from somewhere behind me. "She's the only one that knows anything."

"Fuck that shit, kill the bitch."

"Guys, seriously. If she got us in here, that means she knows something. Let her go."

I rejoiced emotionally as Owens finally proved useful. He eventually had to pry Michaels off of my back so I could breathe.

Ahead of me, Adams stood with her hands in her face as she tried to figure out what was going on. I did feel bad…for some of them.

As I watched Adams, Edwards launched himself at me and pinned me to the wall with his forearm against my neck. I could still breathe, but only barely.

"How long have you been able to remember this?" Owens asked from Edwards's left.

"When you were asleep," I paused to breathe. "After we found Michaels."

"Who do you work for?" This time Edwards did the questioning.

I watched him momentarily before answering, considering my options. "IZON."

"Fuck me." Adams uttered from somewhere beyond Owens and Edwards.

Brit appeared to Owens's left, looking confused as usual.

"Why?" Edwards demanded more than questioned.

"I was-" I stopped; I couldn't breathe.

"What?!" Edwards removed his elbow and grabbed the front of my jumpsuit in clenched fists instead.

"I was a prisoner."

"What the hell?" Owens walked away, slowly rubbing his temples.

"Condemned."

Edwards tugged harder on my jumpsuit. "I thought you said you worked for IZON."

"I did."

"And?" Adams chimed in.

"And I was arrested."

"We got that already." Edwards said. He was having trouble controlling himself. "Why don't you try telling us something that we DON'T know."

"The only reason I'm in here right now…" I stop again. I knew they wouldn't believe me. "is because, after I took you-" Edwards inched his face closer to mine; an animal waiting to strike. "I made an attempt to contact someone."

"And?"

"And they arrested me for spilling top secret government information. Treason, genius."

"But…" Adams started. "If you were arrested and condemned, then that means we were gone for a long time before we came here."

"Yes."

"What the hell is going on here?" I wanted to help Adams, but I could barely move with Edwards on me.

"Guys, guys, guys." Owens spouted from behind Edwards. "I think I remember something."

Edwards loosened his grip on me and looked at Owens. "What?"

"I remember Chris in the news."

"You move and you'll be choking on your teeth." Edwards whispered to me just before letting me go.

I slid my way down the wall until I was sitting down. The others stood around Owens as he shared his new memories. I already knew what he was going to say, so I didn't even bother. As if the others would what my company anyway. I looked at Michaels, having something to tell her…but now was not a good time. I decided to let things cool off a bit first.

I hadn't realized that I'd fallen asleep until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I didn't bother to open my eyes. "What now? Ready to torture me some more?"

"Chris." It was Adams. I still didn't open my eyes. "Chris."

"What, Adams? Christ."

"Do you want a friend in here, or don't you?"

I finally opened my eyes and looked at Adams, but I didn't speak.

"That's better."

"What do you want, Adams?"

"I wanted to ask you something."

I looked away from Adams to see what was going on around me. Owens was talking to Michaels and Edwards. Some surprise. "Shoot."

"You said you were arrested for treason."

"Yea."

"What do you know, Chris?"

"I know that this place is a second chance for condemned prisoners."

"Okay?"

"I know they steal your memories before they put you in here."

"Obviously." Adams paused. "What is this place?"

"I was working with some big wigs in IZON before…this."

"Go on."

"Anyway, they'd been working on this experiment-the Cube. The only way they could get funding for the project was to give it purpose." I stopped and waited for Adams to figure the rest out for herself so I didn't have to say it. "I was gathering information-documents, pictures, anything that would get them shut down when the press got a hold of them."

Adams looked as though she wanted to ask me something, but she remained silent.

"I couldn't forgive myself for what I did and it led to my arrest. And here we are."

"How can I trust you, Chris?"

I thought for a few seconds and answered with the best answer I could muster. "You can't."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Tired of wasting my time in this room, I decided to get up and look at the letters in the crawlspace of the door I sat under. I rose from my feet and, as I'd expected, was met my Edwards's voice.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"Fuck off, Edwards."

"Hey!"

I heard him walking toward me as my back was turned. I decided not to waste my time turning around. Instead, I started to climb that ladder in front of me. A split second later I was grabbed from behind and thrown to the ground again, this time by Edwards.

"Jesus, Edwards." Adams said from where she sat against the wall.

"I was talking to you." Edwards said to me as he held me to the ground.

"Look, guy. If you wanna kill me, go ahead and try. If not, then you better let me go."

The others were beginning to gather around Edwards and me. I could see in his face that he was feeling the pressure.

"How's it feel to be the big dog, kid?" I smiled at Edwards as I played on his uncertainty.

"Kiss my ass." He finally got off of me and I rose to my feet.

"Not my job, Chico." Once again I headed to the ladder, this time with no resistance. Rather, Adams joined me.

*****

"What do you think?" Adams asked me.

I looked at the numbers at the base of the small entryway and shrugged my shoulders. In the plates there lay the letters y, a, b, and on the plate in the opposite door were found the letters z, x, b.

"I don't know. Maybe they'll tell use where the traps are."

"I guess they didn't tell you everything, huh?"

I simply shook my head.

"Adams, we can't stay here forever. We have to get moving."

"I agree. This headache keeps getting worse."

I backed out of the passageway and into the cube. Adams followed. "It's probably dehydration. In that case, it won't get better."

"Alright." Adams said as she reentered the cube. "Okay. People, we need to get moving."

For once everyone seemed to agree on something. One by one, they began to gather together around Adams and started discussing which way we should go.

"I think we should keep going that way we have been; that way." Edwards pointed to the door to the right of the one that Adams and I had just been investigating.

"I don't think we should go that way." I said.

"Nobody asked you."

"You idiot." Edwards ignored me, but I didn't care. "Look, guys. I know you don't trust me and I don't expect you to. But things are not going to get better until we can put that behind us."

"Why should we believe anything you say? You put us in here?" Owens protested.

"Look." I paused and sighed. "You don't have to trust me. I don't know any of you. You don't know me. What you do with the rest of your life, however small, is none of my business. I'm going this way. If anyone wants to come with me, feel free."

I looked at Adams. "I'll go with you."

Nobody else seemed to be with me. I had one more thing to do before I left though.

"Michaels."

"What?" Brit looked at me as if I'd just crawled out of a sewer.

"I have something to tell you. You're not going to like it."

Michaels melted and started to panic. She'd already heard enough from me.

"It's about Daniel."

"What about Daniel?" Anger began to surface in her pain.

"He's here. Somewhere."

"Oooh, god." Once again, Michaels broke down. "What have you done to him?" She managed to ask between rapid breaths.

"I don't know what to tell you except he's here. I don't know where he is." I paused awkwardly. I didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry."

"Like hell you are!" Her anger completely took over and the others had to stop her from attacking me again.

*****

"Well, that went well." Adams said as she walked through the white room with me.

"No kidding." Owens piped in.

I didn't say anything in return. Instead, I walked slightly ahead of the others to the room just ahead of us. From behind me, Adams grabbed my arm.

"You really didn't remember any of this at first?"

"Of course not. Why should they treat me any different than they treat you?"

"Maybe because you work for them." Owens snapped.

"Yeah right." The thought amused me. "They probably want me dead more than anyone else in here. So, no, Owens. I don't get special treatment. At least not in a good way."

"So why was I taken then? What did I do?"

"I didn't get to read your file. I don't know."

"My file? I have a file?"

"You and a few thousand other people that they put in these Cubes."

"Thousands?" Adams asked, shocked. "How many of these things are there?"

"Who cares about that. How long did you know they were putting people in these things?"

"…Too long. Look, I'm all for questions, but do you mind if we take a break from the interrogation for at least a little while?"

"Sure…I guess." Owens answered cautiously.

"What about the others? Do you think they'll be okay?"

"I doubt it, Adams. I'd be surprised if any of us made it out of this thing." I sat on the floor against the wall below the next door and started taking off my boots. We'd lost Owens's last boot several rooms back. "Especially since we're down to four boots."

I crawled up the ladder and into the crawlspace in the next doorway. Before tossing the boot, I checked the letter combination for the room. "The letters for this one are…"

"What?" I heard Adams call.

"Z, z, z." I answered back, before tossing the boot. It came back clean. "Maybe getting to the end of the alphabet means reaching the end of the maze."

I crawled back into the room with Owens and Adams just in time to see Adams barely able to contain herself, the door closing behind me. I couldn't help but smile, but it didn't last long.

"Should we go get the others?" I asked them.

"Chris, we're right here. I think we should go." Adams said.

"What do you think, Owens?"

"I think we should help. We can't just leave them here."

I took a moment to think before I spoke again. "Okay. Here's what's going to happen. Adams, I want you to go. You're in bad shape already with your headache getting worse."

"And leave you here? No way."

"Adams, if you don't leave now, you'll die in here. Don't do that to me."

Adams lowered her head as she thought. She looked at Owens, and then at me. To my surprise, she gave me a hug. "Thank you."

"It's still not over when you get outside. Just remember to say 'Yes'."

Adams looked up at me, worried. "What?"

"You're gonna have to trust me, Adams."

"Okay…" Adams began to walk absently to the next ladder and climbed slowly into the next room. Owens and I watched from the small doorway as she opened the door opposite us. Brilliant white light shone through; I'd never seen anything so beautiful. After she disappeared through the doorway, Owens and I stood there momentarily in silence.

"You still wanna help the others?"

Owens looked at me silently. When he was about to answer, the door before us slammed shut and the Cube started to shake violently, throwing both of us to the floor. After several seconds the earthquake stopped and I looked over to Owens.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, fine." He said in a sour voice.

I immediately got up and reopened the door, only to find the next room was gone. Lights illuminated the area outside of the Cube, but not enough to see the exit. Owens joined me at the door and sighed.

"Looks like we don't have a choice anymore."


End file.
